Furnace.



U. WEDGE FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED 0UT.24,1906.

Patented M31223, 1909.

916,23&.

2 $HEETS-SHEET 1.

U. WEDGE.

FURNAGE. APPLICATION nun 00a". 24,1906.

lPatented Mar. 23, 1909.

2 SEEETS-SHEET 2 Inventor 1W KW MW m a plied to a five-floor furnace, itcan be ap* having a greater or- "tion and Fi 2 is 'a sectional plan view on an ing annular roasting chambers 1 surrounding .25

V sheathed or incased with blocks 3'of refracto this shaft in any desirable way, as, for in- UTLEY WEDGE, OF ARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA.

FURNACE are. 916,234

fipecification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 23, 1909.

Application filed 0mm 24, 1906. s m 1i. 84am.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, UTLEY WEDGE, a citizen Lot the United States, residing in'Ardmore, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Furnaces, of which the following is a specification. The object of my invention is to so construct a roasting furnace as to provide for the effective cooling of the stirrer ami or arms in the roasting chamber or chambers and the uniform feed to the upper floor of the furnace of the material to be roasted. This Object I attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being. bad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a roasting furnace provided with feeding and cooling devices in accordance with my invenenlarged sea e on the line a-a, Fig. 1.

In its general structure the furnace may be similar to those in common use, that shown in the drawings being a five-floorfurnace havacentral shaft 2 of relatively large diameter tory material, rotary motion being imparted stance, by means of a bevel pinion 4 meshing with an annular rack 5 on a frame 6 pro jecting from the shaft and mounted upon antil'riction rollers 7, said frame also having an axial spindle 8 adapted to a suitable hearing 9.

Although I have shown my invention as ed with equally ood results to furnaces ess number officers, or even to furnaces having but a single floor.

In each of the roasting chambers 1 of the furnace are a pair of stirrer arms 10, to which are attached, in any suitable manner, depending-vanes, blades or rabbles .11, one pair of arms being shown as thus equip ed, and these depending blades are preferably such that the material under treatment is fed outwardly inone roasting chamber, and his l wardly in the next, in case the furnace has more than one chambeij'so that it may ass from chamber to chamber, from top to bottom of the furnace throu h the passages 12 in the furnace floors. T e stirrer arms 10 pass through the metallic shell and sheathing of the hollow shaft 2, and are sup orted u on stufiing boxes 13 bolted rive or ot eritlr e shaft'to a point where it can be wise rigidly secured to face of said shaft, and there overlapping or underlapping the corresponding portion of the o posite arm, these lap ing portions being b0 ted or l otherwise rigidly secured together, so that each pair'of. arms constitutes practically a unit and the sagging of the outboard portionsof the arms due to their preponderance of weight is prevented. Each of the arms 10 is hollow and has a lon 'tudinal partition 14 extending part way t rough it in order to form passages 15 and 16 which communicate with each other through a common chamber 17 at the outer end of the arm. Both of the passages are continhed into that portion of t e arm which projects into the 1ollow shaft 2, the assage 16 being in free communication wit the interior of said shaft, and the passage 15 communicatin with a vertical me 19 which extends to an through a diap ragm 20 located below the top of the shaft 2, the pi e of each arm therefore discharging into a c amber 21 contained within a casing 22 at the top of the shaft, this by rotative movement is imparted to the lower end of the shaft 2, has a depending flange 25, which enters a sealing trough 26, surrounding the upper end of the casing 27, the latter, in connection with the pedestal28, forming a chamber 29 at the bottom of the shaft, and with this chamber communicates duced by means of a steam jet 31 an air blower, or equivalent means. A constant sufilply of air is thus maintained within the h ow shaft 2, which air can 'be maintained under light-pressure if desired. The air has free access to the inner ends of the passages 16 of the various stirrer arms,-but can only escape from the passage 15 of each arm throu 'h its corresponding pipe 19, consequcnt the circulation through each arm is cntirely independent of the circulation through. any other armof the series, and is maintained under the same conditions as to all of the arms, so that the circulation must, necessarily be uniform throughout the, entire seriesl-of arms.

When'ajir. is used as a cooling 2, out, the heated air; may be conveyed from t utilised;

for instance, to a device for drying green ore e top of a pipe 30, through which a flow of air is inor other raw material before the latter is fed to the uppermost or primary roasting chamber of the furnace. Draft-inducing means may also be applied to the take-off pipe 24 at the to of the shaft, or in place of the lat ter a dra t stack may be employed, in which case the use of a closed chamber and air blast devices at the bottom of the shaft will not be necessary; or, instead of using air as a cooling agent, water or other liquid may be employed, as, for instance, by feeding the same into the chamber 21, and permitting it to flow by gravity through the pipes 19, and through the passages of the arms, the water being discharged from the passages 16 either directly into the hollow .shaft 2 and thence into a collecting trough at the bottom of the same, or through pipes similar to the pipes 19.

Above the roof of the furnace is an annular trough 32 which receives the material to be fed to the furnace, this trough having, at any desired points, depending necks 33 which are normally closed at the bottom by means of cone valves 34, but which, when said valves are open, discharge into the uppermost or primary chamber of the furnace. valve 34 is suspended from a lever 35, suitably mounted m the trough 32, the preponderance of weight on this lever tending to maintain the valve in the closed position, but projecting arms 36 on the upper portion of the shaft 22 have depending lugs 37, which, by contact with the lever 35, depress the same and temporarily open the valves 34.

When either of the stirrer arms is detached from its pipe 19 and from the oppoe site stirrer arm, it can be readily removed through a suitable opening in the outer wall of the roasting chamber. i

It will be evident that my invention'can be adopted in furnaces of the mufl'le type, such for instance as shown in my Letters Patent, No. 654,335, dated July 24, 1900, with the same advantages as when it is applied to a furnace of the type shown in the drawing. i 1. A furnace having one or more chambers therein, one or more stirrer arms in each chamber, each stirrer arm having communicating flow passages therein, a hollow armcarrying shaft having inlet and outlet without direct connection between them, and means whereby one of the passages of each arm communicates with the inlet of said shaft and the other passage communicates independently of any of the other arms with the. outlet of the shaft.

2. The combination, in a furnace, of one or more chambers, one or more stirrer arms in each chamber, each arm having communicating flow passagestherein, a hollow arm-carrying shaft having inlet and outlet without direct connection between them, direct com municatioxibetween one set of flow passages Each I and the inlet of said shaft and independent 3 connection between each of the other flow passages and the outlet of the shaft.

3. The combination, in a furnace, of one or more chambers, 'one or more stirrer arms in each chamber, each stirrer arm having flow passages therein, an arm-carrying shaft having inlet and outlet without direct connection between them, and a pipe leading from the inner end of one of the flow passages of each stirrer arm to the outlet of said shaft:

4. The combination, in a furnace, of one or more chambers, one or more stirrer arms in each chamber, each stirrer arm having flow passages therein, a hollow arm-carrying shaft having inlet and outlet without direct connection between them, direct communicaition between one of the flow passages of each arm and the interior of the hollow shaft, and separate communication between the other flow passage of each arm and the shaft outlet.

5. The combination, in a furnace, of one I or more chambers, one or more stirrer arms I in each chamber, each stirrer arm having communicating. flow passages, a hollow armcarrying shaft having inlet and outlet with' out direct connection between them, communication between one of the flow passages of each arm and the inlet of said shaft,"ifind'e pendent communication between the flow passage of each arm and the outlet of the shaft, and means for inducing a flow of air into the shaft inlet.

6. The combination, in a furnace, of one or more chambers, one or more stirrer arm in each chamber, each arm having connnu cating flow passages, a hollow arm-catty.- ing shaft, a diaphragm whereby said shiftis closed at one end and direct connection between the shaft inlet and outlet thus prevented, and pipes, one for each stirrer arm, leading from one of the flow passages of said arm to and through said diaphragm.

7. The combination, in a furnace, of one or more chambers, one or more stirrer arms in each chamber, each stirrer arm having communicating flow passages, a hollow armcarrying shaft having at one end an outlet chamber which does not communicate with the interior of the shaft, and pipe connecl' tions between said chamber and one of the flow passages of each stirrer arm.

8. The combination, in a furnace, of a central hollow shaft, and stirrer arms supported upon but not otherwise connected to said shaft, each arm having an outboard portion projecting into a chamber of the furnace, and an inboard portion projecting into the hollow shaft and connected to the inboard portion of an op osite arm.

9. The com ination, in a furnace, of a central hollow shaft having stufling boxes sccured to the inner face pf the same, stirrer arms, supported upon said sheft and its stufiname to this specification, in the presence of inghboxes but otllilerwise unseobui'eci1 thereto, twosubscribing Witnesses. eac stirrer arm aving an in oar portion T projecting onto the hollow shaft and secured LTLEY WEDGE 5 to the corresponding portion of an opposite Witnesses:

arm. HAMILTON D. TURNER,

In testimony whereof, I have signed my l I V KATE A. BEADLE. 

